Memes of Production

Is there anything in your life that has a use, that is not useful for making predictions?

I really think your "broader picture" is context specific. In the US, right wingers go to church and mostly hate astrology. Ive never met a vaguely right wing practitioner of mysticism. Most people I meet who are into astrology are women, lgbtq+, and minorities, people who are more likely to have their opinions silenced by white men questioning their logic and reason. One of the most popular astrologers right now is Chani Nicholas, who is left wing, and discusses social justice and organizing in her content. Our mystics often call themselves "witches" and can be persecuted for their beliefs by our most prominent persecutors, the christian right. We have periodic "satanic panics" that lead to the arrest of queer people and minorities, who are imprisoned for decades in some cases, while the actual satanists never get caught.

There is objectively a fascism problem everywhere. To criticize astrology as if academic science doesnt have such a problem, is just a different flavor of gullibility. But I admit, the first time I ever met a like a hardcore white supremacist neo-nazi, although i didn't know it at the time, we got high and he told me all about gnostic mysticism. It took me years to untangle the horrible logic that underpinned the spirituality he was peddling. But that Nazi was so nice and cool. Not once did he take one of my ideas and try to invalidate them. When in mentioned I liked jazz he put on (all white but very good) Mahavishnu Orchestra. We discussed philosophy and metaphysics, and he tried to plant little seeds that, if believed, could absolutely lead to belief in far right extremist ideas, similar to some of the descriptions in the article you shared, like the creation of a new authority, etc.,

But I think if people with liberal or left sensibilities took the effort to really try to connect with people, rather than hegemonically eradicate competing ontologies, then maybe the fash wouldnt be able to gain purchase in these communities. The principal error of idealism is that ideas create society, and to some extent it is true, however ideas are created by society. If educated people are going to shun and humiliate someone who sees a mystic or looks up star charts, then the politics, my friend, will be determined by the social forces that are active in those communities.

I am a materialist, but I also dont believe that spirituality and materialism are totally at odds. The history of why they are at odds is very interesting, and socioeconomic, rather than purely philosophical. Isaac Newton was a mystic, Hegel studied mysticism to formulate his dialectics. I know scientists who are deeply religious and I know people who grew up studying Wicca and then became rational, methodical scientists.

So on the one hand there may be some cultural difference, but also judging the way the German government has treated pro-palestine protesters, There seems to be more political willingness to force people to adhere to certain beliefs. I'm not sure how much the history of Nazi esotericism is in effect in your country, I bet it cuts a lot of different ways.

The fash are winning the culture war, by engaging with culture. Meanwhile liberals, who dont really know why they believe what they believe, continue to ridicule others for their beliefs, because once upon a time rich landlords and the emergent capitalist class wanted to take land away from the church, and they did it by supporting kinds of scientific inquiry that would discredit the church. Granted the history of the church vs scientific inquiry up to that point was pretty terrifying, but these things have a way coming back around. You know, first as tragedy, again as farce.

The emergent right isnt the fault of mysticism and superstition, it is a protracted campaign carried out by our ruling classes and kept alive by extractive social relations. The more divided we are against ourselves, the more ground they gain. Instead of thinking of beliefs as personal failings, think of them as social movements made up of people.

I'm not a mystic but I will fight for witches, especially against smug objectivists. Not saying that you come off as smug, but there is no shortage of smugness among the scientific rational atheist contingent